Embrace the remainder of alfresco dining season
Credit to Author: Mary Beth Roberts| Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2019 13:16:11 +0000
Summer is waning. Already, the nights are cooler, the days shorter, a sense of melancholy settling in as the sun drops, far too early, below the horizon. Soon we’ll be moving our lives back indoors.
And that means we need to take advantage of what’s left of alfresco dining season.
“Summer is not as long as it used to be. You need to make the most of it,” says James Walt, executive chef of Araxi Restaurant + Oyster Bar, who knows a thing or two about alfresco dining. After all, he and his team have organized the annual Araxi Longtable Dinner Series at Pemberton’s North Arm Farm for the past nine years.
“When you’re outside, you’re hungrier. You appreciate food more,” Walt says. “People are more relaxed when they’re outside and there’s no walls and you can see nature. At the Longtable, we put a bunch of strangers together and everybody starts to click right away.”
He adds: “It’s kind of a primal thing, it’s very natural.”
This year’s dinner was held on August 18, just one of several outdoor dining series around the province, including the Joy Road dinners at God’s Mountain Estate near Penticton and the Quails’ Gate vineyard dinner series in West Kelowna. And, of course, whatever you held in your own backyard.
Each Araxi Longtable Dinner has been memorable, some more than others, like the one where a sudden storm blew in and sent everyone running for shelter in the barn, or the one where they seated a whopping 500 people at the same table. “It went pretty well,” Walt says.
By now he also has a pretty good handle on the four-course menu, and it’s all advice home cooks can use when hosting their own alfresco dinner.
“First of all, the focus is on the time of year. We look at what’s growing, and we usually have the menu done three weeks prior to the event,” he says.
Things typically start with charcuterie made by Jorge Muñoz-Santos, chef of Araxi’s sister restaurant Bar Oso. That’s followed by a hearty salad of, perhaps, tomatoes, beets or peppers and a creamy cheese like buffalo mozzarella. The main course is always beef cooked over charcoal and served with “seasonal accompaniments.” Dessert features whatever fruit is in season.
As much as possible is sourced from as near as possible, which is handy when you can grab potatoes and veg from the farm where you’re cooking. Everything is served family style. And of course, there’s plenty of wine to keep the party going.
In other words, everything is easy to share, easy to make ahead, easy to cook outside.
“Outdoor dining, you should not be stressed. It’s easy. It’s all about product. Treat things really simply. Olive oil, a bit of sea salt, and just cook it,” Walt says. “You don’t want to make things so pretty people won’t want to eat it.”
Chef James Walt loves this summery appetizer and notes that the peperonata—an Italian stew of peppers and onions—is a perfect make-ahead dish that is served at room temperature, keeps well for three to four days and actually tastes better the day after it is prepared. You can find buffalo mozzarella at cheese shops, gourmet grocers and Italian delis. Recipe from Araxi: Roots to Shoots by James Walt (Figure 1).
Serves 4 to 6 as an appetizer
Heat the 1/3 cup (80 mL) olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until soften and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the peppers and cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes, then add the vinegar, raisins and sugar. Cook until the vinegar has evaporated, 4 to 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.
Once the peperonata has cooled, fold in the pine nuts and thinly sliced mint. Mix thoroughly and check the seasoning. Arrange the peperonata on a serving platter.
Place the buffalo mozzarella on the peppers. Drizzle with the remaining 3 Tbsp (45 mL) olive oil and the balsamic crema (or balsamic vinegar), and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh mint leaves and serve along with some crusty bread.